PHILADELPHIA — Lindy Snider, the daughter of late Flyers chairman Ed Snider, couldn’t bring herself to be around much in the last year.

Even in May, when a portion of 11th Street was renamed for her father, the Flyers and Wells Fargo Center were just a reminder of his death last April when his battle with cancer ended. The memories of his life gathered Snider’s family, 30 Flyers alumni and a large crowd Thursday at the northwest corner of the stadium.

A 9-foot statue makes sure that no one will forget the man that brought hockey to Philadelphia.

“It’s a very bittersweet moment on many levels as we stand here,” she said. “It’s sometimes hard to believe that Dad isn’t here with us.”

As she read a prepared speech to the crowd, she wanted to start a new tradition, perhaps helping her belief that “the time for grieving has passed.” In the statue, Snider’s hands are held in front of his waist and on his left ring finger is a Stanley Cup ring. She asked that anyone who walks by rub the ring for good luck.

“Paul,” she said to team president Paul Holmgren, “You have to go first.”

Somewhere near the front of the line was Hall of Fame goalie Bernie Parent.

Parent, 72, was the Flyers’ selection from Boston in the 1967 expansion draft. One of his fondest memories was the charter flight home from Buffalo when Snider and the team were on board with the Stanley Cup for a second straight year and for a half hour there were no words as hockey’s holy grail sat in the aisle.

“Man, that was quality time,” Parent said. “Everything we have here, everything I am as a human being…thank you, Ed Snider.

“The greatest feeling was when I touched the ring. It wasn’t just a ring. I felt the power behind that man. It was just incredible. I love that man so much.”

Current players have their own memories of Snider, even if his hair was a lighter color by the time they were around.

Shayne Gostisbehere scored his first NHL goal against the Los Angeles Kings in November of 2015 and one of the first congratulations he got postgame was the hand of the Flyers’ founder and chairman extended for a handshake.

“That’s probably my best memory,” said Gostisbehere, one of the players who Snider was most excited about in the months before his passing. “It sucks that he’s not here, but it’s great that we’re going to honor him with a statue. It’s the least I could do.”

Crafted by sculptor Chad Fisher, whose sculpting company works out of Dillsburg, Pa., and also did the statue of Hall of Fame coach Fred Shero, the statue will remind more and more people of Snider.

He affected everyone from players to reporters to security guards to fans to the children in Philadelphia and South Jersey that benefited from what he called his greatest accomplishment — the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation.

“He loved this team. He loved this city,” said Holmgren, who has served the team in virtually every role from player to coach to scout to general manager and now president.
Speaking as a player, an alumni and a staff member, we loved him back.”

“We all grew up on 2nd Street, so we had to go to the other side of Broad St. to McCusker's Tavern to watch the Flyers play,” remembered Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney. “It’s been part of my life ever since the Flyers came here.”

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who got his share of complaints from Snider about the league’s officiating, flew into town for the occasion.

“It’s kind of ironic that his statue will stand here idly for us all to see and remember because he was a man who was constantly, constantly in motion,” Bettman said. “That’s how I’ll always think of him and remember him. It will be a great tribute to him and all he accomplished that his imagery will stand here with us forever.”

“Ed was such an inspiration,” added Dave Scott, the president and CEO of Comcast Spectacor, which Snider helped create. “He started out as my boss and we very quickly became friends and he became my mentor. I miss him dearly. It’s hard. I think about him every day.”

If Snider Hockey was the man’s biggest achievement, Bettman noted, his biggest regret might’ve been not winning a third championship.

The statue might serve as a reminder of that, too.

“He wants a Stanley Cup,” Lindy Snider said, speaking directly to Holmgren. “And the pressure’s on and you’re not off the hook.”